


Forest for the Trees

by LikeALiar



Series: The Woods Have Eyes [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Multi, plus no aunts in this one, stuff is starting to happen!, virgil swears a little bit in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 11:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20599763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeALiar/pseuds/LikeALiar
Summary: There was a raven on the wall.Nothing outside had ever touched the wall as far as he knew. He wasn’t sure if they couldn’t or just didn’t want to.





	Forest for the Trees

# ((17)) 

There was a raven on the wall.

Virgil stared at it, mouth agape, from his seat underneath the apple tree. Nothing outside had ever touched the wall as far as he knew. He wasn’t sure if they couldn’t or just didn’t want to. Both possibilities had disturbing connotations that Virgil would rather not think about. He knew his Aunts were dangerous and powerful and that the only reason he was still here was because for some reason they had taken pity on the little kid that they found lost in the woods. He wasn’t stupid. He could read between the lines.

But right now, there was a raven on the wall. And it was staring at him.

It hopped backward slightly, and Virgil startled out of his frozen state. He scrambled to his feet, dropping his book into the grass in his haste. He took three steps toward the wall without thinking and froze. He snapped his head back toward the house behind him. The house that was currently empty.

Virgil could count on one hand the number of times he had been alone in the house. Neither Aunt seemed eager to leave him to his own devices but every few years something came up that needed both of their attentions. They would never tell him what exactly, floating out the door with vague promises of being back before midnight and making him promise to not break any of the rules.

His head twisted back to the bird on the wall. It hadn’t moved and was staring at him expectantly.

“Hello?” he called out quietly.

The bird cocked its head and bounced back another step.

“Wait! Don’t go!” Virgil scrambled a few steps closer. Almost touching the wall, but far enough back to still see the raven.

It flapped its wings once, twice, and lifted off the wall, flying beyond Virgil’s view.

“Wait!” Virgil couldn’t remember the last time he had yelled.

Something desperate seized his heart and suddenly he was ten feet off the ground, crouched on the branch of the apple tree closest to the wall. He could just barely see over it and crawled closer. There, sitting right outside the wall, was the raven. It hopped backward again, ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

Virgil crawled forward along the branch. It creaked dangerously beneath him and Virgil, in desperation not to fall, stepped onto the top of the wall. He took a sharp breath in. Somehow standing 9 feet and 3 inches above the ground on a wall that he was never allowed past felt like the most dangerous thing he’s ever done. Even more so than when he crawled onto the roof of the house to look at the stars and almost fell off six months ago. Even more than when he cut halfway through his pointer finger when he was helping make dinner and his head went fuzzy with blood loss.

The bird hopped backward again, and Virgil realized he needed to make a choice. It would be years before he was alone in the house again, and who knows how long before the bird would come back.

_The Aunts **are **in the woods. So, it’s not really breaking a rule, right? And as long as I get back before the sun goes down, I **really **won’t be breaking a rule and the Aunts would never know, right? _

Nobody answered Virgil’s quiet thoughts. So, he answered them himself by sitting down onto the wall before pushing off of it.

On the side of the woods.

Virgil shakily stood from his crouched position and looked toward the Raven. It hopped in place a few times before fluttering into the woods.

Virgil took a stuttered step to follow, and then another one after. He rounded the tree he saw the Raven disappear behind and he found it perched on a branch. Once it was in his sight, it let out a short caw and flapped away again. Virgil followed, a little surer of himself, and the Raven cawed when it was found again before flitting farther into the woods. The pattern continued and eventually Virgil was laughing and running after the bird, barely loosing sight of it before it would caw again and flap off. It felt like hours and seconds at the same time. Time moving meaninglessly as he dodged branches and hopped tangled roots. Occasionally the Raven would fly higher up a tree and seemed confused when Virgil didn’t followThe darkening sky was the only thing that drew him from his game. He paused to glance at the sky where the sun was getting worryingly close to the horizon. He slowed to a jog and then a walk, approaching the Raven. It cocked its head at his slow approach.

“I- I think I need to go back home now. The sun is going down. Sorry I can’t keep playing.” _ Why am I talking to a bird? Birds don’t talk._

Virgil turned away from the bird and took two steps before stopping. He twisted his head around before his eyes widened in panic. _Where am I? _

“I don’t know how to get home. I don’t know where I am,” He paced back and forth. “I’ve never been in the woods before and now I’m lost and I followed a _fucking bird_, who does that? And who knows where I am and oh no the Aunt’s are gonna kill me, wait, no, no no no, Flora’s gonna put me in the basement again and fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Virgil was crouched down, hands tugging at his hair as he visciously whispered at himself. His string of curses stopped when a weight landed in his shoulder.

He glanced to his left and barely held backa flinch and the proximity of the Raven’s eye to his own. It blinked and virgil did flinch that time, falling to the ground. _Ravens don’t blink. Or have purple eyes. _The bird in question stood in front of his sprawled form.

“You’re not a normal raven, are you?” he pointed.

The Raven shook its head.

“Were you trying to get me lost?”

Another shake. This one more intense.

“Can you show me the way back?”

A reluctant nod.

“_Will_ you show me the way back?”

The bird hesitated and then hopped backward and took off into the trees.

Virgil scrambled to his feet, “Is that a yes? Hey! Wait for me!”

He ran to where the raven had disappeared from his view and saw it waiting for him. The game from before resumed, though this time the bird was silent. There were no caws when Virgil caught sight of it, instead it took off again with barely a glance his way.

He followed, anxiety growing as the sun crept ever closer to the horizon. He still had about twenty-five minutes until it disappeared completely, but he had no idea how far away he was. The pace they were taking back was slower than the pace there, not helped by the fact that Virgil kept tripping every couple of steps.

Minutes passed, the forest quiet except for the wind and flaps of the Raven’s wings.

The break in the trees was sudden but Virgil had never been happier to see the grey stone of the wall. The world outside felt too big. He was distracted on the run with the bird, thrilled about interacting with something living other than the Aunts or the garden but now the openness of everything felt crushing. _What’s the opposite of claustrophobic? _

He reached out to the wall and pressed his forehead against it, sighing in relief. He turned around to look for a tree that would let him climb back over and almost screamed.

There was a boy standing a foot away from him. The raven was nowhere in sight. _No, _he thought, _not a boy. A Fae. _The ears were pointed. He cursed his luck. Of course, the first time he was in the woods he would come across a Good Neighbor. He would laugh if he wasn’t terrified out of his mind right now. Sunset was less than ten minutes away now. If the fae didn’t kill him then the Aunt’s just might.

“Salutations.” His voice was like the moment before Virgil started slipping on the roof. When he felt weightless in the moonlight. Like nothing could touch him

“H-hello.”

“Why are you here?” The Fae tilted his head.

“I, um, well, I live- I live here.” Virgil pressed himself into the wall as far as he could, trying to create more space between them.

“Really? That is strange. Because I have climbed the trees around this area and there is nothing to be seen within the circle of the wall except for grass.”

“Wait, what?” He turned back to face the wall, looking up to the top. “Is there more than one? Did it take me to the wrong one?”

“I can assure you this is the only circle of wall there is in these woods.” The Fae’s eyes flashed as Virgil turned back toward him.

The sun was sitting on the horizon now.

“I- it doesn’t matter if there isn’t anything in there. I have to get on the other side.”

“How do you intend to do that?”

Virgil stepped away from the wall and around the Fae, fear of him overridden by his fear of what his Aunts would do if they caught him outside. He looked up at the trees around them. “Same way I got out. Climb a tree.” A branch that looked like it was sturdy enough to hold his weight hung close enough to the wall that Virgil felt semi-confident he could jump the distance.

“You are a strange human,” the fae was suddenly at his shoulder, looking at the tree with him. “Why are you so hurried to get over the wall?”

“Because the sun is almost down.” Virgil pushed his sleeves up and swung onto a lower branch.

“I do not understand what the sun has to do with this situation.”

Virgil paused his climbing to look down the boy who had moved to stand under the tree. “I’m not allowed to be out of the house when the sun isn’t up. Rule number two.”

“That seems like a strange rule.”

“Is it? They said it’s to keep me safe.”

“Safe from what?”

Virgil froze, crouched on a branch, face scrunched in confusion. “I- I don’t know. I don’t know if they ever told me honestly.”

“Who is this ‘they’ you keep referring to?”

Virgil crawled along the branch. The top of the wall was only feet away. “My Aunts. They take care of me.”

“You and your aunts live in the middle of the woods?”

“Well, duh. Where else would we live?” Virgil readied himself to jump to the wall. The sun would set in five minutes.

“Hm. May I see your home?” The boy was suddenly next to him on the branch.

“Fuck! I would really appreciate it if you stopped just appearing next to me.”

“You did not answer my question.”

Virgil paused. “Wait, what was your question?”

The boy’s eyebrows scrunched. “I asked if I may see your home.”

“Oh, I- I don’t know.” The fae wasn’t acting like how the Aunts said they would at all. _Maybe it would be ok?_

“Why are you unsure?”

“Well, it’s not breaking any rules, but I feel like the Aunts really wouldn’t like it. I mean, technically I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why shouldn’t you be talking to me?”

“Rule number four: Never talk to a stranger unless absolutely necessary.”

“Well,” he paused. “You may call me Lo. What may I call you?”

“Clover?” Virgil was confused.

“Now we know each other’s names, so we are no longer strangers. You are not breaking any rules now.”

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that.” The sun would set in two minutes. “I-I guess you could. But only for a little bit! I don’t know when the Aunts are gonna get back. And I really don’t wanna know what they might do if they find you. They don’t really like other Fair Folk I think.”

The pair jumped onto the top of the wall, Virgil wobbling slightly while Lo remained graceful. They both sat before dropping down to the ground.

“Fascinating,” Lo adjusted his glasses. “It would seem there is a ward around the wall that prevents the house from being observed.”

“What do you mean? I could see it the entire time.”

“Perhaps because you live here, the person who put the ward up did not think to include you.”

“Hm. It was probably Aunt Fleur. She’s always had more patience for that kind of stuff than Aunt Flora.” Virgil began to walk toward the house but turned when he noticed that Lo hadn’t moved.

Lo’s eyes were wide behind his glasses. “The Lladdwyr live here?” His voice shook.

“I don’t know who that is. Is that Welsh?”

“You know Welsh? No, that is not important right now. Clover, I think you are in danger.” Lo reached for his arm but Virgil pulled away.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Your Aunts are dangerous. It’s not safe for you here.”

“What are you talking about? The Aunts saved me. They take care of me! They-” Virgil froze, eyes wide as he watched the last light of the sun disappear. His anger drained away, replaced by a cold, icy pit of dread in his stomach. “I-I have to get inside. You need to leave. The apple tree is the easiest way out. Before my Aunts get back please.”

“Wait! Clover!”

Virgil rushed up the back porch and into the house without a word. He rested his back against the door and turned his head to look back out the window. Lo was already gone but there was a raven on the wall.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!!  
Come chat with me about this over @strawberry-sanders on tumblr!  
Originally I wasn't gonna bring Logan into this quite yet. First it was just gonna be Virgil and the Raven, but I couldn't do another chapter where Virgil was only talking to himself, then I thought I was gonna have a scene with Remy (which will likely still happen at some point) But I eventually landed on Logan cuz i thought it was time for another side to show up and interact. I'll probably be making a reference for Logan at some point so look out for that over on my tumblr!


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